As the midterm elections is less than a day away, Democrats, and the media propping them up, are preparing for “delayed” results. The election has a number of significant races that will determine the fate of the Senate and House.
The narrative is reminiscent of the 2020 presidential election when results did not come until more than a day after November 10. American Pigeon held a livestream that election night, reporting the double digit lead Trump held in multiple states before early morning ballots arrived at key locations to put now-President Biden in the lead, securing him the presidency.
Now, in what seems to be a déjà vu moment, the media is preparing Republican voters for a “red mirage,” in which the GOP will experience an early lead before mail-in ballots are counted, handing over the election, once again, to Democrats across the country.
The phenomenon known as the “red mirage” or the “blue shift” was popularized during the 2020 election when Trump allegedly took a “false lead,” according to a report from ABC, writing that it’s “okay” that election night will not reflect final tallies.
“Their [Republican] leads will dwindle, or crumble completely, after perceived ‘dumps’ of votes are recorded by state election officials who count mail-in and absentee ballots in the days—or even weeks— following Election Day,” the outlet reports.
Democrat Lt. Governor John Fetterman, who is facing Republican challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz, released a memo from his campaign team to the media on the “red mirage” likely to shadow Pennsylvania tomorrow. The statement reads,
“Election Day is almost here, and Republicans are already laying the groundwork to potentially spread false conspiracy theories about the likely “red mirage” of ballot processing in Pennsylvania. The reality is Pennsylvania law means in-person votes that skew Republican tend to disproportionately be counted and reported before Democratic-leaning mail-in votes. “
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reiterated this point, saying that election results may not be known for days.
NPR’s Ayesha Rasco told CNN that Republicans are already indicating that they will not accept election results. Rasco was on a panel discussing President Biden’s recent statements calling Republican voters “election deniers.”
“It is Republicans who are showing that they may not accept the results of an election. That is a big deal. That is not a partisan statement,” she said.
Mail-in voting heavily skews Democrat when the practice notably began at the height of the pandemic. Democratic voters, who were anxious to vote in person, chose to cast their ballots by mail. Critics of the practice say that mail-in voting is more prone to corruption, citing ballots improperly filled out, lacking signatures, or multiple unsolicited ballots reportedly sent to voters’ homes.
In a state contested by the former president, a Wisconsin judge recently refused to allow ballots be counted with partial information filled, according to a report by Just the News. The judge reportedly rejected a request from the state’s League of Women Voters arguing for ballots to be counted with incomplete addresses.
Dane County Circuit Judge Nia Trammell’s decision came just before the midterm where both parties are vying for a majority in both chambers of Congress. While more than 1,800 election clerks in the state are receiving hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots ahead of election day, so far more than 305,000 ballots have been returned as a result of errors.
